Please note: Applications for entry in September 2025 have now closed. Details of the process and timescale for applying for an ESRC studentship for September 2026 will be published on this webpage later.

Bournemouth University is delighted to be part of the Southwest Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP), one of the UK’s largest centres of postgraduate research training for social scientists including in the fields of Health, Wellbeing & Society, Psychology, Climate Change & Sustainability. Skip to any section of this page to find out more about the SWDTP and the fully funded studentships you could apply for:

About the SWDTP

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Southwest Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP), originally established in 2011, is a collaboration of social scientists from the universities of Bristol, Exeter, Bath, Plymouth, West England, Bath Spa, Plymouth Marjon and Bournemouth. Each institution is committed to providing excellent training, development and teaching for the postgraduate community across disciplinary and interdisciplinary research fields.

The SWDTP has educated over 5,000 Master’s and 1,600 Doctoral students in the social sciences. The partnership draws on the established research excellence of the partners, including the expertise of more than 750 social science research staff. This represents one of the largest groupings of social scientists in the UK.

The SWDTP has been accredited to offer a hub of world-class social sciences research and support a wide variety of collaborative activities, including events and student placements in public, private and civic society organisations.

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships

Annually, the SWDTP offers a small number of ESRC funded-postdoctoral fellowships.

Candidates must be aligned to one of the SWDTP partner institutions and to the pathways to which institutions belong. For BU, this means that we would be able to support applicants in one of three pathways:

Applications for entry in September 2025 have now closed.

Details of the process and timescale for applying for an ESRC PDRFs for September 2026 will be published on this webpage later.

Fully funded studentships

Applications for entry in September 2025 have now closed.

Details of the process and timescale for applying for an ESRC studentship for September 2026 will be published on this webpage later. You must hold an offer from Bournemouth University before applying for an ESRC studentship.

The standard funding offer for PhD studentships (excluding any Masters year) is typically 3 years and 3 months plus 3 months ‘Research in Practice’. The length of funding may be extended where students are required to undertake ‘top up’ research methodology training. The need for any ‘top up’ training is determined from on-going Development Needs Analysis (DNA), beginning at the point of application. Where a student is required to undertake ‘top up’ training during their PhD, the funding will be extended. Part-time studentships will be offered pro rata to their full-time equivalents.

The ESRC requires that nearly every PhD thesis will be submitted within the funded period, so we ask that all our students think carefully about what is viable in the time available and to make every effort to stay within it.

Bournemouth University is delighted to be a new SWDTP partner. We can support applicants to apply for competitive and prestigious fully funded ESRC studentships from the SWDTP. These are available through our disciplinary pathway or one of our innovative interdisciplinary pathways, to offer students the broadest possible approach to their studies at BU.

Research training pathways

The SWDTP has created several new and innovative training pathways which aim to tackle current national and international research priorities. The following research training pathways are available at Bournemouth University in one of many exciting departments situated in one of our four faculties:

Eligibility and further information

Students wishing to apply for ESRC funding can apply for either:

  • An MSc/MRes followed by PhD programme 
  • PhD only 

However, students wishing to undertake PhD only must meet the ESRC criteria in terms of previous Master’s level study and should read the SWDTP Guide to applying to the SWDTP for further information. Applicants may apply to one or more pathways, but please note the ESRC’s eligibility criteria for overseas and EU students.

Students applying for ESRC-funded scholarships must identify their chosen pathway prior to application in order to discuss their research ideas with a suitable supervisor.

Students are encouraged to look at ways of incorporating collaboration with external partners into their research proposal. Collaboration does not always have to be a financial arrangement and could take the form of a placement, voluntary work, data sharing or other payment in kind opportunities.

Students considering overseas fieldwork, overseas institutional visits or difficult language training should mention this in their application where possible.

As well as comprehensive research training, all students are encouraged to apply for a work placement during their time of study with us. Placements provide the opportunity for students to develop their research and transferable skills further in a non-academic environment. For more information on placements, please visit the partnership’s collaboration pages. Please see individual programme entries for programme structures.

Applying for a studentship

Applications for entry in September 2025 have now closed. 

Details of the process and timescale for applying for an ESRC studentship for September 2026 will be published on this webpage at a later date. You must hold an offer from Bournemouth University before applying for an ESRC studentship.

More information

Further information can be found on the SWDTP’s webpages.

Collaboration, impact and placements

Any general enquiries relating to the SWDTP at Bournemouth University should be directed to [email protected]